Ambassador: Uzbekistan seeks return to glory days with Ukraine

In the heyday of the bilateral relationship, trade between Ukraine and Uzbekistan — two nations that were Soviet republics — hit $2 billion yearly as recently as 2009, Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to Ukraine Alisher Kurmanov said.

Now, the volume has dropped to less than a quarter of that amount. They barely register in each other’s top 10 trading partners, while China and Russia are at or near the top of both lists. The short-term aim of Uzbekistan and Ukraine is to get the turnover up to $1 billion yearly from the current $450 million.